Recording Medium Containing Supplementary Service Information For Audio/Video Contents, and Method and Apparatus of Providing Supplementary Service Information of the Recording Medium

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to method and apparatus of providing supplementary service information for A/V contents written in a recording medium. This method has a recording medium containing Presentation Language data, which have to be included like as in a digital television signal for supplementary service information in accordance with Advanced TV Enhancement Forum or Digital TV Application Software Environment standard, and reproduces, if a disk reproduction is requested, the Presentation Language data as well as requested A/V data and provides them for a connected external device such as a digital television. As a result, various video information and functions provided with Presentation Language data by a recording medium can be realized at a digital television set being able to accept Presentation Language data.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to method and apparatus for having anoptical recording medium containing Presentation Language (called ‘PL’hereinafter) data, which have to be included in a digital televisionsignal for supplementary service information in accordance with AdvancedTV Enhancement Forum (called ‘ATVEF’ hereinafter) or Digital TVApplication Software Environment (called ‘DASE’ hereinafter) standard,and providing the PL data contained in a recording medium for aconnected external apparatus.

2. Description of the Related Art

In these days, several standards for providing various supplementaryservices through digital television broadcast signal are underdiscussion. These standards are in regard to applying Internet ProtocolLanguage such as HTML, Java Script, CSS, and DOM to digital televisionbroadcast signal composed of A/V (Audio/Video) signals. ATVEF standard,which is under discussion with Microsoft company as a leader, is one ofthem. Another developing standard is DASE which is under discussion inATSC sub-committee.

Therefore, a digital television set is likely to satisfy ATVEF or DASEstandard, which means that it can receive and process PL data includedin digital television broadcast signal to provide a viewer with variousadditional functions.

A digital television set being able to receive PL data of ATVEF or DASEstandard will be configured as FIG. 1. The digital television set 100 ofFIG. 1 comprises a VSB tuner 1 tuning VSB (Vestigial Sideband)-modulateddigital television broadcast signal received through an antenna, andextracting MPEG transport stream belonging to a channel chosen by aviewer from the tuned signal; an MPEG decoder 2 decoding A/V data streamcontained in the extracted transport stream to original picture andsound data; and a PL separator 3 extracting PL data contained in theextracted transport stream; and a storage unit 4 such as a hard disk ormemory banks for storing the extracted PL data; a PL interpreter 5interpreting PL data stored in the storage unit 4 or received from thePL separator 3; a graphic generator 6 generating a graphic image inaccordance with the PL data interpretation; and a mixer 7 mixingsynchronously picture data from the MPEG decoder 2 with the generatedgraphic image from the graphic generator 6 to be presented together ontoa screen.

The digital television set 100 configured as above tunes a digitaltelevision broadcast signal received through an antenna, decodestransport stream of a chosen channel among the tuned signal, andpresents the decoded data by moving pictures and sounds. At the sametime, the digital television set 100 separates PL data from thetransport stream, interprets the PL data, generates a graphic image inaccordance with the interpretation of PL data, and overlays the graphicimage onto the displayed picture as shown in FIG. 2.

As aforementioned, PL data will have a format like Internet languagesuch as HTML, Java Script, CSS, and DOM, and are provided for varioussupplementary services from a broadcast station. The PL data from abroadcast station are likely to have a syntax of ‘http://[sitename][attribute]’, for example “http://lge.com/hdvdp.html”. In ATVEFstandard, uni-directional HTTP is probably applied to PL data. All orpartial PL data are to be stored in the storage unit 4 forcross-referencing between HTML contents of A/V data. The PL data forcross-referencing may have a syntax of‘lid://[namespace-id][resource-path]’, for example“lid://lge.com/hdvdp.html” or “lid://abcd/hdvdp.html”.

Owing to the PL data having such a syntax, a viewer is able to view avariety of supplementary service information for broadcasted televisionprograms of a chosen channel through graphic images created based on thereceived PL data while viewing the broadcasted programs.

In addition, a high-density recording medium such as a DVD or ahigh-density DVD being able to store high-quality video data has beendeveloped. Therefore, a disk apparatus for recording/reproducingtelevision broadcast signal including PL data to/from such ahigh-density recording medium is under development among relatedcompanies.

However, it has not been specified how a high-density diskrecording/reproducing apparatus stores PL data provided pursuant toATVEF or DASE standard to a high-density recording medium, provides thestored PL data for a data presentation apparatus such as a digitaltelevision set, and supports PL data jointly with a digital televisionset. Therefore, such pending matters should be definitely settled assoon as possible.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide method and apparatusof providing supplementary service information of A/V contents through arecording medium, which has a recording medium containing PL data assupplementary service information, which is included in digitalbroadcast signal according to ATVEF or DASE standard, besides real A/Vdata to be presented, and reads PL data only or along with real A/V datato send them to a connected digital television set as well as interpretsPL data and conducts necessary operations the interpretation isindicative of.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a recordingmedium storing PL data as supplementary service information, which is inaccordance with ATVEF or DASE standard, besides written A/V contents.

The present invention is characterized in that a recording mediumincludes A/V data; navigation data for control of searching andreproducing the A/V data; and language-formatted data an A/V presentingapparatus can interpret.

The present invention is also characterized in that a method ofproviding supplementary service information for A/V contents from arecording medium, comprising the steps of reproducing A/V data andlanguage-formatted data, which a digital television set can interpret,from a recording medium, and transmitting the reproduced A/V data andlanguage-formatted data to a connected external apparatus through adigital interface.

The present invention is also characterized in that an apparatus ofreproducing a recording medium containing supplementary serviceinformation for written A/V contents, comprising a data pickup readingdata written in the recording medium, a data separator separating theread data consisting of transport packets into A/V data andlanguage-formatted data, which a digital television set can interpret,based on packet identifier of each transport packet, and a datatransmitter transmitting the separated A/V data and language-formatteddata to a connected external apparatus through a digital interface.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the invention, illustrate the preferred embodiments ofthe invention, and together with the description, serve to explain theprinciples of the present invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a digital television set being able toaccept PL data provided additionally according to ATVEF or DASEstandard;

FIG. 2 is an example of video picture presented with a graphic imagegenerated based on supplementary service information;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a mutually connected optical disk deviceand a digital television set which are configured in accordance with thepresent invention;

FIG. 4 is another block diagram of a high-density DVD player whichfurther includes a PL separator as internal elements;

FIG. 5 shows a digital television set connected with a plurality of diskdevices; and

FIGS. 6 to 9 depict several hierarchical data structures of ahigh-density DVD according to each embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFFERRED EMBODIMENT

In order that the invention may be fully understood, a preferredembodiment thereof will now be described with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of a mutually connected optical disk deviceand a digital television set which are configured in accordance with thepresent invention.

The disk device 300 of FIG. 3 may be a HD (High-Density) DVD playercomprising an optical pickup 32 reading signals written in a HD-DVD 31;a signal processor 33 binarizing RF signals read from the HD-DVD 31 andrestoring the binarized signal into original digital data; a PLinterpreter 34 conducting reproduction of A/V data and PL data writtenin the HD-DVD 31 according to PL data or commands received from aconnected digital television set; and an interfacing unit 35transmitting the reproduced A/V and PL data to the connected digitaltelevision set through IEEE 1394 interface.

The digital television set 200 of FIG. 3 comprises, as described forFIG. 1, a VSB tuner 21 tuning VSB-modulated digital television broadcastsignal received through an antenna, and extracting MPEG transport streambelonging to a channel chosen by a viewer from the tuned signal; an MPEGdecoder 22 decoding A/V data stream contained in the extracted transportstream or received from the HD-DVD player 300 to original picture andsound data; and a PL separator 23 extracting PL data contained in thetransport stream from the VSB tuner 21 or the HD-DVD player 300; and astorage unit 24 for storing the extracted PL data; a PL interpreter 25interpreting PL data stored in the storage unit 24 or received from thePL separator 23, and conducting command indicated by PL data selected bya user; a graphic generator 26 generating a graphic image in accordancewith the PL data interpretation; a mixer 27 mixing synchronously picturedata from the MPEG decoder 22 with the generated graphic image from thegraphic generator 26 to be presented together onto a screen; and aninterfacing unit 28 communicating data with the HD-DVD player 300.

The HD-DVD player 300 reproduces real A/V data and PL data from theHD-DVD 31 and transmits them thorough an isochronous channel of theinterfacing unit 35. Then, the digital television set 200 separates datareceived through the isochronous channel of the interfacing unit 28 intoA/V data and PL data. Instead of transmitting A/V and PL data throughsame channel, the HD-DVD player 300 may transmit them via differentchannels, that is, real A/V data through the isochronous channel and PLdata through an asynchronous channel.

FIG. 4 shows another block diagram of a HD-DVD player which furtherincludes a PL separator 36. In the HD-DVD player configured as FIG. 4,the PL interpreter 34 receives Pb data through the asynchronous channelof the interfacing unit 35, interprets PL data read from the HD-DVD 31or received from the channel, and controls reproduction operation of theHD-DVD 31 in accordance with the interpretation of PL data. Therefore,PL data may be used as navigation data for reproduction control. In themeantime, the PL separator 36 separates data reproduced from the HD-DVD31 into real A/V data and PL data which are transmitted through theisochronous and asynchronous channel respectively, of the interfacingunit 35.

A digital television set may be connected other optical disk devicessuch as a HD-DVD recorder 400 and a DVD player 500 besides the HD-DVDplayer 300 as shown in FIG. 5. Therefore, a digital television setshould know which device PL data is related with among the connectedHD-DVD player 300, the HD-DVD recorder 400, and the DVD player 500, sothat an identifier is defined to use in PL data. For example, the stringof ‘hdvdp’ is defined as the identifier for the HD-DVD player, so thatPL data for the HD-DVD player 300 has a syntax of‘hdvdp://[space-id][resource-id]’, the string of ‘hdvdr’ is defined forthe HD-DVD recorder, so that PL data for the HD-DVD recorder 400 has asyntax of ‘hdvdr://[space-id][resource-id]’, and for the DVD player 500,its identifier is ‘dvdp’ and its PL syntax has the format of‘dvdp://[space-id][resource-id]’. According to the these rules, thedigital television set 200 can distinguish which device and contentscurrent PL data is requesting.

If a plurality of same devices are connected, for example, two HD-DVDplayer are connected, an additional identifier such as appended numberdigits is used to discriminate between same devices.

The part ‘[resource-id]’ in the PL data syntax is used to designateunique contents contained in a corresponding device. Thus, the‘[resource-id]’ indicates directory, file, title, or chapter stored in aHD-DVD or DVD with its name or number. The PL data including the deviceidentifier makes PL data applicable to bi-directional protocol.Therefore, PL data can be also delivered from the digital television set200 to other connected device (300, 400, or 500). At this time, the PLdata may be used a command requesting a certain operation of theconnected device, and they are delivered through the asynchronouschannel of IEEE 1394 interface standard.

The digital television set 200 obtains PL data through processing thereceived digital television broadcast signal, and displays contents ofthe obtained PL data on a menu screen. Among displayed PL data, one ischosen by a user, then the digital television set 200 sends the chosenPL data to a connected device the identifier contained in the PL data isindicative of in order to request an access of contents, written in arecording medium, the chosen PL data is pointing to. In addition, it ispossible to access contents written in a recording medium of a connecteddevice or data stored in the storage unit 24 of the digital televisionset 200 by using of PL data from another connected device.

Owing to this usage of PL data, menu can be constructed on a screen of adigital television set for itself or other devices without its own menudata by using PL data provided from other source device. On thecontrary, a conventional DVD device should have its own menu data fordisplaying to a user.

Hereinafter described is a data recording structure of a recordingmedium to which a method of reproducing supplementary serviceinformation for A/V contents according to the present invention isapplicable.

FIG. 6 depicts hierarchical data structure of a HD-DVD according to anembodiment of the present invention.

The HD-DVD is partitioned into a file system area and a video zone. Thevideo zone contains one or more titles, and each title consists ofpresentation data and their navigation data.

The presentation data consist a plurality of high-density Packs (called‘HDPK’s hereinafter), whose size is fixed, for example 2048 bytes, andeach HDPK is composed of pack header and pack data in which severalTransport Packets (called ‘TP’s hereinafter) are included. In the areaof each pack data, TPs containing real A/V data and TPs containing PLdata in accordance ATVEF standard, that is, ATVEF data are interleavedas shown in FIG. 6. Each TP has Packet Identifier (called ‘PID’hereinafter) to differentiate an A/V data TP from ATVEF data one.

A recording medium whose recorded data structure is configured as aboveis conceptually divided into two zones, one for navigation data, and theother for A/V data and ATVEF data whose TPs are interleaved within aHDPK.

When the HD-DVD player 200 configured as FIG. 4 reproduces the HD-DVDwhose recorded data structure is as shown in FIG. 6, the PL separator 34examines Program Service Information, written in the HD-DVD asmanagement information, defining PIDs for all TP types, and confirmsPIDs indicative of A/V data TP and ATVEF data one. Then, the PLseparator 34 checks PID of every TPs included in presentation datareproduced from the HD-DVD 31 and separates A/V data TP and ATVEF dataone based on their PIDs. The separated A/V data TPs and ATVEF data onesare transmitted to the digital television set 300 through theisochronous and asynchronous channel respectively, of the interfacingunit 35.

The digital television set 300 receives A/V data TPs through isochronouschannel of the interfacing unit 28, and decodes the A/V data TPs tooriginal video and sound data through the MPEG decoder 22. The ATVEFdata TPs received through the asynchronous channel of the interfacingunit 28 are sent to the PL separator 23.

The ATVEF data TPs are interpreted and converted to a correspondinggraphic image while being processed sequentially by the PL separator 23,the PL interpreter 25, and the graphic generator 26. The graphic imageis synchronously mixed with a video picture from the MPEG decoder 22 atthe mixer 27. The mixing time of the graphic image is determined basedon PTS (Presentation Time Stamp) relation between corresponding ATVEFdata TP and A/V data TPs.

Through the above-explained operations, PL data for supplementaryservice information can be provided for a digital television set alongwith A/V contents written in a recording medium like as digitaltelevision broadcast programs according to ATVEF or DASE standard.

The PL interpreter 34 of the HD-DVD player 200 may transmit all TPsincluded in reproduced presentation data through only isochronouschannel of the interfacing unit 35 without checking PID of each TP. Inthis case of not separating, the interfacing unit 28 of the digitaltelevision set 300 further conducts the functions of checking andsepararating, that is, it checks PID if every TPs received through theisochronous channel, and separates A/V data TP and ATVEF data one basedon their PIDs. A digital television set may equip with an additionelement (not figured) to conduct the checking and separating instead ofthe function-integrated interfacing unit.

The separated A/V data and ATVEF data TPs are to the MPEG decoder 22 andthe PL separator 23, respectively. The A/V data TPs are decoded tooriginal video and sound data by the MPEG decoder 22, and the ATVEF dataTPs are converted to a corresponding graphic image through sequentialprocesses of the PL separator 23, the PL interpreter 25, and the graphicgenerator 26. Finally, the graphic image generated from one or moreATVEF data TPs is synchronously mixed with successive video picturesfrom the MPEG decoder 22 at the mixer 27, and then the mixed videopictures are presented onto a screen.

Hereinafter described is another data recording structure of a recordingmedium to which a method of reproducing supplementary serviceinformation for A/V contents according to the present invention isapplicable.

FIG. 7 depicts hierarchical data structure of a HD-DVD according toanother embodiment of the present invention.

The HD-DVD of FIG. 7 is partitioned into a file system area and a videozone which contains one or more titles and each title consists ofpresentation data and their navigation data the same as FIG. 6. However,this structure is different from that of FIG. 6 in that ATVEF data TPsand A/V data TPs are written in different HDPKs.

A recording medium whose recorded data structure is configured as aboveis conceptually divided into two zones, one for navigation data and theother for A/V data and ATVEF data which are written in different HDPKs.

FIG. 8 depicts hierarchical data structure of a HD-DVD according toanother embodiment of the present invention. In this data structure,ATVEF data are written with complete separation from all recorded A/Vdata like navigation data.

A recording medium whose recorded data structure is configured as FIG. 8is conceptually divided into two zones, one for navigation data andATVEF data which are separated each other, and the other for pure A/Vdata.

FIG. 9 depicts hierarchical data structure of a HD-DVD according toanother embodiment of the present invention. In this data structure,ATVEF data are written in both of area for navigation data and area forA/V data. The partial ATVEF data in the A/V data area are written indifferent HDPKs with A/V data like as the embodiment of FIG. 7.

A recording medium whose recorded data structure is configured as FIG. 9is conceptually divided into two zones, one for navigation data andpartial ATVEF data which are separated each other, and the other for A/Vdata and partial ATVEF data which are written in different HDPKs.

The ATVEF data, written in navigation data area as shown FIGS. 8 and 9,can be used as navigation data for control of searching and reading realA/V data contained in the HD-DVD 31. For example, in the HD-DVD player300 in which the PL separator 36 and the PL interpreter 34 are equippedseparately, the PL interpreter 34 can interpret PL data reproduced fromthe navigation data area of the HD-DVD 31 and conduct an operation inaccordance with search or control information indicated by theinterpreted PL data.

For the data structure of FIG. 8, ATVEF data can not be reproduced atthe same time as A/V data are reproduced along tracks, so that they aresuitable for menu data if menu is composed of commands requestingselection and reproduction of contents recorded in a recording medium toa corresponding device.

The method and apparatus of providing supplementary service informationof A/V contents through a recording medium according to the presentinvention, can supply a digital television set with PresentationLanguage data of supplementary service information, like as in a digitalbroadcast signal satisfying ATVEF or DASE standard, for A/V contentsrecorded in a recording medium as well as A/V contents, therefore,various video information and functions provided with PL data by arecording medium can be realized at a digital television set being ableto accept PL data.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departingfrom the sprit or essential characteristics thereof. The presentembodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects asillustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention beingindicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoingdescription and all changes which come within the meaning and range ofequivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

1. A method of providing supplemental information to be reproduced withaudio/video data, the method comprising: providing audio/video data andassociated supplemental information, wherein: the supplementalinformation is divided into segment units, the supplemental informationis capable of being reproduced with the audio/video data in asynchronous manner, the supplemental information is differentiated fromthe audio/video data by identification information, and the supplementalinformation is linked to the audio/video data by linking information;and transmitting the audio/video data and the associated supplementalinformation through different channels.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the supplemental information comprises Presentation Languagedata.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the Presentation Language datacomprises supplementary service information according to the ATVEFstandard.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein the Presentation Languagedata comprises supplementary service information according to the DASEstandard.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the audio/video data and theassociated supplemental information are interleaved with one anotherprior to transmitting.